


A Crown Of Shells & Silver

by rainingover



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M, Nymphs & Dryads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-22 18:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8296492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainingover/pseuds/rainingover
Summary: After that night, there's also the small matter of the forest nymph. The nymph with the smart mouth, the bright eyes and the kind smile, the one who startles Jinwoo as he is watching the storm.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Winnerween prompt #135 (Prompt: Every hundred years, they meet at the point where the sea meets the forest.  
> Please include: Merman!Jinwoo, ForestNymph!Seunghoon, clandestine meetings, lots of kisses, some angst, an ambiguous/bittersweet ending)
> 
> I hope I did your beautiful prompt justice, prompter :)!

Jinwoo is at the edge of the water, clinging to the rocks in the shallows and waiting for the storm to pass overhead before he swims back down to his home at the bottom of the ocean.

Jinwoo watches the clouds roll and the froth of the ocean around him, watches the sky light up as a cacophony of thunder and heavy rain and the crashing of water against the very rocks he holds onto fills his ears like a symphony. It’s so loud, and so bright. So _wondrous_ , Jinwoo thinks, as lightning strikes somewhere in the forest behind him.

Even though he spends the majority of his life underneath the ocean, the sky holds Jinwoo’s fascination. It always has.

The sky, and the trees that reach into them, straining to be at one with the clouds, growing and growing, always growing. He’s watched them grow for centuries, whispered to them, little messages of encouragement that he whispers into the wind when he surfaces. He has never known whether they can hear him, but he continues, just in case.

His father has always disapproved of Jinwoo’s fascination with what is above the water. Has always shaken his head and said, “Your home is here,” stretching his arms out at the expanse of ocean around them, his tail lightly tapping against the ocean floor in the way it always does when he’s frustrated, as if he isn't in control of it, though he very much is. “You aren’t to visit the surface of the water, not without permission. It isn’t safe and it isn’t right, especially for someone in your position.”

And Jinwoo has always nodded and said, “Yes father,” and “I understand, father.” But he doesn’t, because he really can't see the harm in retreating to the surface every so often and taking in the world above the water. He's curiout about the trees and the way sand feels when it's dry. About the way that lightning lights up the entire sky. That's all.

At least, that's all until one night, when a storm is the reason he is at the edge of the water, clinging to the rocks in the shallows and watching as the very tallest branches of the very tallest trees light up under a spotlight of lightning.

After that night, there's also the small matter of the forest nymph. The nymph with the smart mouth, the bright eyes and the kind smile, the one who startles Jinwoo as he is watching the storm pass overhead.

The one that, over time, over hundreds of years, he comes to love even more than he loves the depths of the ocean themselves.

Sometimes Jinwoo wishes he’d never visited the surface at all.

 

-

 

Jinwoo is shocked at first to come face to face with a forest nymph peering down at him from his place on the shore. “Sorry!” He smiles when Jinwoo startles. “Are you lost?”

Jinwoo shakes his head. “I'm just here waiting for the storm to pass.”

“So... You're okay?” The nymph doesn't look convinced.

“Perfectly.” Jinwoo does his best to look like he belongs at the edge of the water. “Thank you, but you really don't need to be concerned.”

The nymph shrugs and steps back a little.“No problem,” he says. “Nice tail, by the way.”

Jinwoo can feel the blood rushing to his face. “That's, um--” He can't help but feel flustered. “Um, have you by chance ever told another merperson that before?”

“No.” The nymph’s brow creases. “Why? Shouldn't I?”

“It's… It's quite a personal thing to say.” Jinwoo knows he’s blushing. Adds, “I mean, it's not a _bad_ thing, it's just-- it’s rather forward.”

The nymph ponders this, says, “Maybe I was being forward on purpose.”

Jinwoo lets out a rather undignified squeak and the nymph laughs. “Sorry, I don't come across lost looking merpeople very often. Ever in fact,” he admits with a grin.

Jinwoo tries to regain some dignity. Reminds the nymph, “well, I'm not lost,” and goes back to watching the sky light up around them. “Are you staying to watch the storm?”

“Sure.”

They don’t talk again for hours, hours that pass by in rolls of thunder and seemingly never ending rain. Jinwoo is pretty sure that forest nymphs are dry land creatures, and he wonders if the nymph would be more comfortable inside the forest, under the canopy of the trees, but the nymph doesn’t leave, even as his clothing turns a darker colour and sticks to his skin.

When the storm ends, Jinwoo shakes his head, drops of rain showering over the water, and the nymph laughs loudly. Asks, “Why are you shaking your hair dry if you’re about to swim back under?”

Jinwoo purses his lips and says, “Do you know _nothing_ about the habits of merpeople?”

“Absolutely nothing at all.” The nymph grins and extends his hand. “I’m Seunghoon by the way. Do merpeople have names?”

“Yes. I’m Jinwoo.” He stares at the outstretched hand in front of him, not sure what he’s meant to do with it. He reaches his arm out too, smiles as their fingers touch.

Seunghoon smiles too. “We usually shake hands but… This works too. So, you know nothing about us, either?”

Jinwoo shakes his head. He has never met a forest nymph before, but he has watched them on occasion during his visits to the surface, wondered about their lives above water, about their customs and their homes on dry land, amongst the trees.

The _trees_. Jinwoo can't pass up the opportunity to ask about them, he might never get another chance to.

He says, cautiously, “Can the trees hear?”

“What?”

“The trees,” Jinwoo repeats. “Do they listen to us when we speak?”

Seunghoon’s mouth twitches. “Oh, they can hear us in their own way,” he replies, tries not to smile. “But they’re _terrible_ at keeping secrets, so always be careful what you tell them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” Jinwoo smiles in earnest. “I should get back now.”

Seunghoon’s eyes look sad. “Will we meet again?”

Jinwoo says, “I hope so,” and he finds that he genuinely does.

 

-

 

It’s fifty six years later when they come face to face for a second time.

Jinwoo doesn't mean to leave it such a long time, would visit the surface much more often if he was allowed, but he isn't. Not after the last time, not after he arrived back to his home to find his father, tail flapping against the ocean floor in anger. His father who accused him of disappearing, of worrying the whole kingdom, of being irresponsible and unfit to one day lead their people.

His father who watches him intently now, so that he can’t slip away when he feels a storm brewing far away.

He shouldn't be here now, but his father is away from their home on a diplomatic visit across the ocean, and it’s been so _long_ , and he means no harm, so he’s here, at the surface, listening for thunder in the distance.

There is a voice behind him, light and laughing. “I knew I’d find you here.”

“Oh! Seunghoon!” Jinwoo is surprised, but happy, when he turns around. Has wondered about the forest nymph. He leans his elbows against the shore, water lapping at his tail. “How did you know?”

“The trees told me.” Seunghoon waves vaguely in the direction of the forest behind him. The clothing he is wearing stops above his knees, and Jinwoo can’t help but marvel at his legs and feet, the way they’re decorated with little nails at the end. They’re so… Different. But not in a bad way, not like the stories he'd been told as a child, the ones that warned against visiting the surface, had always said.

It’s not like he _wants_ legs, but he could get used to Seunghoon’s being close to him.

Jinwoo finally looks back up at Seunghoon’s face. “Why would the trees think you’d be interested in me being here?”

“Who wouldn’t be interested?” His eyes are gleaming. “Is there a storm brewing?”

“I think so. It’s coming in from the East.”

Seunghoon sits down, cross legged on the sand, and Jinwoo can hardly believe how flexible legs can be. They’re so strange, but-- nice. He wonders whether it’s as forward to compliment the nymph on them as it was for him to mention Jinwoo’s tail.

“Can I watch it with you?” He asks. “It was fun last time.”

“That depends,” Jinwoo manages to drag his eyes away from the soft, pale flesh of Seunghoon’s thighs.

“On?”

Jinwoo smiles, slyly. “How does my tail look today?”

The nymph grins. “You remembered.”

“That isn’t something a merperson forgets easily,” Jinwoo points out. “I was blushing for years.”

“I can’t believe I said that,” Seunghoon presses his palms to his face. “If it makes it any better -- the rest of you is just as beautiful.”

“That just makes my heart beat too fast!” Jinwoo replies, and he isn’t lying. He could do this all day; this back and forth, this flirting. And with a forest nymph! With mesmerising _legs_!

The storm hasn’t even begun.

 

-

 

Jinwoo lies down, his back against the wet sand, his tail in the shallows of the water, and stares up at the sky. It’s blue, for once. There’s no storm in sight, but he’s on the shore regardless.

Seunghoon clears his throat from somewhere behind him, and Jinwoo smiles through his tears and brushes wet hair from his forehead.

Seunghoon is peering down at him now. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Jinwoo sniffs, his eyes betraying him, tracks of tears shining on his flushed cheeks.

“You’re lying. The trees know.” Seunghoon smiles. “Sorry. Did I mention they can’t keep a secret?”

Jinwoo laughs Seunghoon gently runs his thumb underneath his right eye to wipe away a stray tear. Bats away Seunghoons hand and says, “They’re terrible confidants.”

“They don’t mean any harm.” Seunghoon sits back, leans back on his hands, his legs stretched out in front of him. He looks a little bit like he’s trying to impersonate a merman and it makes Jinwoo smile.

“So, why is my favourite merperson crying?” He asks, wriggling his toes.

“Your favourite? I thought you’d never met another,” Jinwoo replies. He's joking, but at the same time -- it has been a hundred years since he last visited the surface. Maybe there are others with the same inclination, maybe he isn't special to Seunghoon after all. 

“I haven't, though even if I had, you’d be my favourite,” Seunghoon says. He’s staring out over the horizon.

“Why are you so...” Jinwoo trails off. “I’m sorry, I’m just--a bit overwhelmed.”

“By my handsome face?” Seunghoon is looking him in the eye now, teasing.

Jinwoo rolls his eyes. He wants to play along, but he’s too sad. “By the fact that I shouldn’t be here. I really shouldn't come to the surface.” He bites at his lip, realises the tears are threatening to flow again.

“Why? What would the storms do without you? What about the trees?” He doesn’t add, “what about me?”, but they both hear it anyway.

Jinwoo sighs. “I’m directly defying my father by being here. He won’t stand for it any longer.”

Seunghoon pulls a face. “What could anyone have against you coming up here once in awhile?”

“It’s not that, exactly,” Jinwoo says, although it kind of is. “It’s more-- There are things I should be focusing on. Things like shadowing meetings at the court and learning every tiny law of the sea.”

(Like learning to lead, becoming worthy of a crown of shells and silver.)

“Do all merpeople have to do those things?” Seunghoon asks.

Jinwoo looks away, across the horizon. “Just the ones who will one day be king.”

“Oh.” Seunghoon’s toes have stopped wriggling when Jinwoo turns back. “I can see why that could be... important. Maybe you should get back.”

“You’re meant to be on my side.” Jinwoo sighs.

“I am! Always.” Seunghoon smiles. “Are you really royalty?”

Jinwoo nods. “Do you want to swim down with me and present a fantastically worded argument to my father about why merpeople should be allowed to sneak away and visit incredibly flirtatious nymphs in secret?”

“If I could swim, and breathe underwater, and see underwater. Oh and _talk_ underwater - yes.” Seunghoon laughs and his toes wriggle in the sand again. “But I can’t.”

Jinwoo says, “You land creatures are useless,” and giggles as Seunghoon splashes water at him in response.

 

-

 

They lie side by side on the sand, watch the clouds pass overhead and bicker over the shapes they resemble.

"A mushroom," Seunghoon decides about one particular cloud.

"Never seen one," Jinwoo admits and points at a white shape above them. "This one looks like a starfish!"  

"A star _fish_? Can you wish upon them too?" Seunghoon says, and Jinwoo laughs loudly at the thought until Seunghoon joins in.

"We know so little of each other's worlds," Jinwoo sighs, later. And it's true. When they meet, it almost feels like they exist in their very own bubble. Just the two of them, under the sky, where the sea meets the forest.

"I should take you to see the woodland mushrooms sometime, they’re quite friendly little things, if a little abrasive,” Seunghoon says,  digging his toes into the sand absentmindedly. “How long can you survive out of water?"

"Not long enough," Jinwoo replies and they don't speak for a while after that.

The sky is dark and Seunghoon's skin is cold to the touch when Jinwoo says, “I suppose I should go back to the real world.”

Seunghoon smiles. “I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t a dream."

“It feels like one,” Jinwoo says, warming Seunghoon’s cold hands between his.

-

 

There is a time in the darkness, Seunghoon’s face lit by the stars and moon only, when Jinwoo gives in trying to hold up the weight he feels bearing down on his shoulders, allows salty tears to track his cheeks and join the salty water around them.

Seunghoon’s arms pull him in close, he rests his chin atop Jinwoo’s bowed head and asks, “What’s troubling you?”

Jinwoo sighs. “I’m to be crowned king soon. My father has officially abdicated; he’s struggling with the travelling to different parts of the ocean, his tail isn’t what it used to be. I’m-- nervous. It’s such a big responsibility, I don’t know if I can do it.”

“I know you can. I wish I could see you in your crown.”

“I wish I could see you every day,” Jinwoo whispers. Adds, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Seunghoon just pulls him in closer.

 

-

 

The next time they meet, Seunghoon’s hair is a little longer, his skin a little more tan.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asks as he wades into the sea, the water lapping at his thighs.

“Like what?” Jinwoo tries not to get distracted. He’d almost forgotten about legs.

“Like I’ve grown an extra head.”

Jinwoo tries to find a way to explain. “I’m just-- surprised. I forgot how handsome you are.” He looks away.

Seunghoon feigns offence as he wades deeper so that the water reaches his waist, says, “You _forgot_?!”

“It’s been a long time.” Jinwoo shrugs. “About one hundred years, if I remember correctly.”

”You’re a busy merprince, it’s to be expected.” Seunghoon says, and Jinwoo feels a moment of guilt for abandoning his soon-to-be kingdom again. His self -reproach is interrupted by Seunghoon clearing his throat and saying  “I’ve been wondering…”

“Yes?”

“How do merpeople feel about kissing?”

“What-ing?” Jinwoo looks up.

Seunghoon looks nervous, is running his fingertips through the water around them. “Oh, well, it’s where-” He begins to explain, and Jinwoo realises that he’s misunderstood his surprise for innocence.

“I know what it is,” Jinwoo interrupts, and Seunghoon’s fingers still in the water.

“If I…” Seunghoon is closer now, his clothed chest against Jinwoo’s bare one, his legs knocking at the most sensitive part of Jinwoo’s tail underneath the water.

“Yes,” Jinwoo breathes and closes his eyes instinctively.

Afterwards, in the years between this meeting and the next, Jinwoo’s mind races and his heart thumps outrageously whenever he thinks about kissing Seunghoon, which is, he is almost scared to admit, a lot more often than he thinks about the conventions of the merpeople who live in the South, or about the way he must float during his royal coronation.

Jinwoo promises himself that he will resist the lure of the surface, that he will dedicate himself to his people for at least one hundred more years before he visits Seunghoon again.

He manages ninety nine.

 

-

 

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Seunghoon says with a smirk, even though he’s already waiting on the shore when Jinwoo breaches the surface of the water.

Jinwoo grins, takes in a deep breath and shakes water from his hair as Seunghoon wades into the water, until he’s chest deep. “How did you know I was coming today?”

“The tallest trees could see you swimming towards the shore, they let me know. Did you know, they’ve been laughing about me behind my back?” He turns his head towards the shore and tuts. “They can be so rude.”

“Why have they been laughing?”

“Because they say that you’re all I talk about.” He rolls his eyes. “But if _they_ had an exciting, beautiful, clandestine guest due any year maybe they would too.”

Jinwoo smiles, his face flushing with pride. “I only come here for your compliments.”

“Not my legs?”

Jinwoo bites his lip, doesn’t answer.

“Or my kisses?” Seunghoon smirks as his hands find Jinwoo’s waist, right at the point where the scales of his tail become skin. He shivers at the touch, lifts his chin to meet Seunghoon’s mouth with his own.

“They’re a perk of the trip, I must admit,” Jinwoo says afterwards and smiles as he rests his forehead against Seunghoon’s bare shoulder and rests it there awhile.

Seunghoon kisses the soft skin under Jinwoo’s jaw and then says, “The trees really have started taking pity on me. They cry about us. They think we’re some sort of tragic legend that they can pass on down their generations.”

“That sounds very romantic.”

“They’re a sucker for a love story, what can I say.” He laughs. Adds, more quietly, “They think we'll have an unhappy ending.”

Jinwoo closes his eyes. “Will we not?” He asks. He doesn’t expect an answer; they both know it isn’t worth pretending that the trees aren’t right. They always are.

He returns to the ocean, where he sets his crown of shells and silver back atop his head and vows to lead his people well.

 

-

 

One hundred years and eighteen days later, Jinwoo swims in circles as he waits, breathes in deeply and takes in salty air as Seunghoon approaches on foot.

By the time Seunghoon is chest deep in water, Jinwoo is right there, kissing him with an urgency he didn’t realise he had in him.

“King looks good on you,” Seunghoon says as he pulls away.

“I know. It feels good on me too,” Jinwoo admits. “I’ve missed you. A lot.”

“I can tell.” Seunghoon smiles against his mouth. “So, how has the last century treated you?”

“It’s been interesting.” Jinwoo pauses. “My people are happy and safe. That’s what’s important, right?”

Seunghoon nods. “But you should get to be happy too.”

“I do.” Jinwoo pulls away from Seunghoon’s embrace, lies back against the water and floats as he stares up at the sky. “I’m happy right this very minute with you.”

“And the rest of the time?” Seunghoon calls from where he’s stood, the hair damp from Jinwoo’s wet hands running through it earlier.

“Then too,” Jinwoo says, and if Seunghoon doesn’t believe him, at least he doesn’t press the issue.

 

-

 

It’s three meetings later when Seunghoon says, proudly. “I’ve learnt to swim a little more since I saw you last. I can even hold my breath under water now.”

Jinwoo watches the pride flicker of Seunghoon’s face and smiles. “Why did you learn?”

“For selfish reasons,” Seunghoon answers as he entwines his fingers with Jinwoo’s.

“Selfish reasons?”

"The trees keep wolf-whistling at me every time I pass, they're watching us right now, they're so nosy.” He grins. “So I found a cave a little off the coast, to the West of the forest. I thought maybe we could swim there, for-- for _privacy._ "

“Privacy for what exactly?” Jinwoo asks, tilts his head and widens his eyes.

Seunghoon leans in closer. “Stop teasing me and start swimming.”

“Don’t you mean, start swimming _your highness?_ ” Jinwoo laughs, but he’s already heading west as he says it.

 

-

 

Another hundred years pass, quicker than they ever have before. The ocean is spun into turmoil; the kingdoms that border Jinwoo's are warring again, and the violence is spreading. Jinwoo thinks about Seunghoon just as much during this time, but he feels twice as much guilt for it.

He’s pressed up against the rocky wall of the cave, Seunghoon’s mouth on his neck, when he says it. “I’m not coming back again.”

“Mmm. Okay.” Seunghoon mumbles against his skin.

Jinwoo’s grip on his hair loosens. “I mean it,” He says quietly.

Seunghoon pulls away, and Jinwoo watches his face intently; the way his brows furrow and his eyes desperately search Jinwoo’s own for a sign that he is playing a trick. “My Kingdom needs me; there’s discourse in the rocky regions and-- all I think about is you. It’s not fair on my people, they deserve better. You deserve better.”

Seunghoon shakes his head. “I don’t.”

Jinwoo sighs. “We knew this couldn’t really last. We-- we meet once a century and live out this fantasy where this is the norm, but -- but I exist in the ocean, and you exist in the forest, and that is never going to change.” Jinwoo can’t look at Seunghoon anymore. It hurts too much.

Seunghoon doesn’t even argue back, and somehow this makes Jinwoo feel even worse.

When Jinwoo shakes his hair dry before swimming under again, Seunghoon doesn’t even laugh. “Miss you already,” he says instead.

“Miss you always,” Jinwoo replies, the lump in his throat causing his voice to crack.

He swims the twenty thousand feet back down to his home whilst trying to choke back tears, but by ten thousand feet he can’t bring himself to hold them in any longer.

 

-

 

Jinwoo wears a crown of shells and silver day after day.

He pretends that he doesn’t see lightning and wet sand and Seunghoon’s lithe body in his dreams, avoids conflict with the merpeople of the rocky regions and tells himself that Seunghoon isn’t waiting, or watching, or hoping for him.

(The trees know better.)

 

-

 

It’s one hundred years later and there are grey clouds rolling in overhead.

On the horizon, the trees catch a glimpse of a golden haired creature with a beautiful tail who breeches the water as the storm rolls in from the East, and they breathe a sigh of relief.  

 

 


End file.
